Today’s blog will be a whistle stop tour on how customers view your website and promises to be a little more complex than simply being down to the choices you make regarding colour, font and images.
Of course all of the following points are important to consider when designing a website but when it really gets down to the nitty gritty there is a science behind the scanning…
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Font on background colour
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Size of font
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Scrolling or moving images
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Size of images
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Small paragraphs
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Uncluttered and not busy from both a visuals and content point of view
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Having something to immediately catch the eye like a banner or roundel
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The colour of this banner or roundel – red or yellow and black can sometimes mean ‘buyers beware’ outside of nature too
But what I really want to focus on is eye tracking and how you can use it to your advantage, but firstly I should perhaps explain what I mean about eye tracking.
Eye tracking is monitoring how people view and behave on your webpage with regards to where and what they look at on your webpage and in what order.
Knowing this information is useful as it can influence the way you design your webpages. For example, where is the best place for a call to action, where should the content go so that it is thoroughly read (*it must of course be informative and engaging but I will come back to that) and are there any hot spots you should be taking advantage of to make sure you are grabbing the attention of your audience? The eye tracking information in this blog will help you ascertain whether you are missing a trick and give you ideas on how to improve your site.
In order to move on with this topic I’m going to break down the next section into the most common types of websites and website pages companies use and rely on.
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The e-commerce page
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The search page
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The corporate page
The image below comparing the three sums up the difference between a search page, ecommerce page and a corporate page.
So how do people view a web page? Well, I’m glad you asked that as I have an infographic up my sleeve that will explain. Seemingly random eh?
And here is another one showing the overall differences between the pages
(1) About Us on a corporate website
(2) Product page on e-commerce site
(3) Search engine results page (SERP)
These visuals show that websites are often viewed in an F shape pattern and teach us the following:
People Start at top left and move across which is why companies tend to place logos in top left of site, it is the eyes’ natural starting point. Once they know where they are they then move down the left side and centre of the site. This is why you usually find the navigation bar or image tabs, or USP’s at the side with the content in the middle. Then the pattern goes a little like this, down and right, then left, then right again, all the way to the bottom…very much like reading a magazine. We finally finish by making our way back to the top right corner where you are likely to find offers such as free delivery or sign up requests and ‘last chance’ calls to action, via another final scan of the page.
So, in summary, make sure content is in the right place.
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Logo top left
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Calls to action top left and top right
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Images and navigation down the left hand side
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Content down the centre or body of the site
Another useful tip is to try and get as much relevant content above the fold (the point where you have to scroll down) as fewer people scroll than you think!
Check out this site for some great interaction
https://www.youeye.com/how-it-works
* So to end I will go back to the point I made earlier regarding the relativity of content. At Début Marketing we understand that you can wax lyrical about your business, company or product and that if it was all put into words then your website would be quite large indeed. With a review we can help to pick out and clarify the most relevant information for your market and then put it into words that will transfix them to your page – give us a call to find out how.
Next week I am going to talk about market research, namely how to do it, what you can gain from it and how to put it into practice – see you then.